❝Story01:30
How Acting Downtime Became Entrepreneurial Training
Shay Mitchell traces her path from nighttime bottle-service work and daytime acting classes to seven years on a television show. She says long shooting days and periods of waiting taught her time management and gave her room to pursue travel, YouTube, a blog, and a book.
- She arranged early work around acting classes
- A seven-year show became her foundation for managing time
- Production downtime created space for other creative projects
- Travel and audience communication later informed her businesses
“that was sort of the foundation of of my learning of how to manage time”
#career#time management#creator journey
❝Story07:00
Why BÉIS Turned Pronunciation Friction into Recall
Mitchell connected the BÉIS naming process to her experience using Shay rather than Shannon in auditions. She liked that the accent and uncertain pronunciation prompted people to pause, ask questions, and repeat the name, although she also stressed that finding an available name took substantial time.
- Her stage name had previously created an extra moment of conversation
- BÉIS emerged while she explored alternatives to the word beige
- The accent suggested travel and invited pronunciation questions
- She viewed slight confusion as memorable rather than automatically harmful
“I love that there was almost a little bit of confusion in how to pronounce it”
#naming#branding#beis
❝Story27:00
How BÉIS Turned Pop-ups into Travel Experiences
Because BÉIS primarily sold direct to consumers, pop-ups created rare opportunities for customers to handle products and meet the brand in person. The team built a motel and later a hotel concept, placing bags in check-in, bedroom, bathroom, and patio-style settings rather than presenting a conventional store.
- Temporary retail reduced the commitment of a permanent store
- The motel concept could evolve into a more elaborate hotel
- Products appeared in settings that resembled travel use
- The experience gave an online-first brand direct customer contact
“I didn't want to just create a store atmosphere. I wanted to create an experience.”
#experiential retail#popups#direct to consumer
❝Story29:00
BÉIS Wash Turned a Product Complaint into a Service Event
After seeing social posts about light-coloured luggage becoming marked, Mitchell developed a car-wash-themed pop-up tied to the Clean Slate collection. Customers could have a BÉIS bag cleaned whether or not they bought something at the event, while the set translated the campaign's bubbles and fresh-start imagery into a physical experience.
- Customer posts about dirty luggage supplied the event's problem
- The Clean Slate launch provided a timely creative theme
- Car-wash details made the service visually distinctive
- Cleaning was offered as a give-back to existing customers
“Let's create this experience where we can do like a service for them.”
#customer service#brand activation#social listening
❝Story35:30
Onda Started with a Name, a Deck, and No Drink Formula
Mitchell had already been looking for a convenient tequila-based ready-to-drink option that felt less artificial and less sweet to her. Through her agency she encountered an early Onda concept with a name and visual identity but no finished formula, which appealed because she could help shape it from the beginning.
- She had sampled existing ready-to-drink products as a customer
- She wanted tequila, real fruit, lower sugar, and a less sweet taste
- The concept reached her through an agency investment department
- Its early stage allowed the founding group to develop the drink together
“They had the name, and that was it.”
#onda#beverages#founding story
❝Story41:00
How Drake Became an Early Onda Customer
Mitchell says Onda was casually sent to friends and family without a formal announcement of her involvement. Drake received it through that circle, liked it, and became an enthusiastic customer who later mixed his own drink with it; the episode provides Mitchell's account but no independent sales evidence.
- The product was seeded informally to friends and family
- Mitchell says Drake liked it without a promotional agreement
- He experimented with mixing Onda into another drink
- She treated his continued use as encouraging product feedback
“we had casually sent it out to 41 30 friends and family when we had first started it”
#onda#product seeding#celebrity customer
❝Story48:30
Thirst Combined Travel, Culture, and Drinks into One Show
During the pandemic, Mitchell missed travel and noticed that food television had more representation than shows about beverages. A team member suggested a travel-and-drinks format, which became Thirst: four episodes filmed in four countries about what people drink and the cultures around those beverages, including non-alcoholic ones.
- The concept emerged while travel was restricted
- A team member connected her interests in travel and beverages
- The premise covers culture and learning, not only alcohol
- The first run filmed four episodes in four countries
“I could travel and drink and learn — not just drink.”
#television#travel#beverages